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THE JUMPING KANGAROO AND 
THE APPLE BUTTER CAT 



The 

JUMPING KANGAROO 

and the 

APPLE BUTTER CAT 


T L 


3 > 


JOHN W. HARRINGTON 

Illustrated by 

J. W. CONDE 


NEW TORK 

MCCLURE, PHILLIPS &? CO. 

M C M 


63351 

jjutorawj y ol Conjirees 

j 'vrt CUPIE& KecEHED 

; OCT 19 1900 

Copyright entry 

(©dbA^ A^o^os 
S£C<’W COPY. 

0*-;iver«rf t e 

0«0t« DIVISION, 

JLOV 3 3 1 9 00 - 




Copyright, 1 900, by 
McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. 


To His Daughter 

RUTH, 

For Whose Entertainment 
these pages 

were originally written , 
THE AUTHOR 
Dedicates this Book 





TABLE OF CONTENTS 


chapter page 

I Jumping Jehosophat 13 

II Yellow Lion and Hedge Hog's Scribbling 23 

III The Ant's Aunt Gives a Picnic . . . 33 

IV Their Fat Friend 43 

V White Rabbit's Cheese Scruple . . . 53 

VI About the Apple Butter Cat .... 63 

VII Gray Mouse’s Rich Brother .... 73 

VIII At the Church Mouse's Circus . . . 83 

IX Hoot Owl Invents Golf 93 

X How Ugly Dog Stopped the Car . . .103 

XI Sly Fox Gets His Picture Taken . . .113 

XII At Little Monkey's Swimming School . 123 



JUMPING JEHOSOPHAT 


















I 

JUMPING JEHOSOPHAT 

K ERCHUG, the leap frog, was all the time jumping. 

He stood every morning on the edge of the pond 
where he lived, and said to all the birds in the 
trees above him : “ Isn’t it wonderful how I can 
jump? ” Then all the birds would flap their wings and sing 
a song which began, “ Isn’t it a treat to see our leap frog jump 
so far? ” 

One day Kerchug made a great big jump into the middle 
of the pool, and then swam back to the stone from which he 
always made his jumps. He waited for the birds to flap their 
wings and to sing about his jumping, but not one of them took 
any notice of him. Instead of that, he found Carrier Pigeon 
roosting on a log near the pool and looking very solemn. 

“ Wasn’t that a great jump? ” asked Kerchug. 

Carrier Pigeon shook his head, and took out from under 
his wing a little paper envelope, which he gave to Kerchug. 
Kerchug opened the letter and when he had looked at it he 
turned white under the chin. 

“ Read it to me, Carrier Pigeon,” he said, “ I’ve just come 
out of the water, and my goggles are so damp that I can hardly 
see anything.” 


*3 




Sly Fox stops Kerchug from running away. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 15 

So Carrier Pigeon swelled out his chest and stood on one 
leg and held the paper in his right claw as he read : 

“ I can leap further and higher and better than anything 
which wears a speckled skin and goggles. If Kerchug is not a 
coward he will come away from the water and hop right out 
here in the wood and jump with me. 

(Signed) “ Jumping Jehosophat.” 

“ Are his legs as long as mine ? ” asked Kerchug, looking 
very hard at Carrier Pigeon. 

“ He had them curled under him when I saw him sitting 
in the woods,” answered Carrier Pigeon, “ and really I cannot 
say.” 

Kerchug, the leap frog, heard all the birds twittering and 
whispering, up in the trees. He thought they were all laugh- 
ing at him, so he gulped and swallowed and then said that he 
was very glad indeed to see Carrier Pigeon and that it was a 
very fine morning. 

“ You might say to your friend,” he added, “ that I must 
have time to think this over, and you can come back in an 
hour.” 

“ Very well,” answered Carrier Pigeon, “ I’ll go back and 
tell him.” 

When Carrier Pigeon had gone, Kerchug put everything 
which he had in a red bandana handkerchief and tied it up and 
put the bundle on the end of a stick, which he rested on his 




Kerchug and Sly Fox 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


l 7 


shoulder. Then he started for the bulrushes which grew along 
side of the pool. He had not gone very far before he met Sly 
Fox. 

“ Good morning, Kerchug, how is the jumping this morn- 
ing? ” asked Sly Fox. 

“ Not very good,” answered Kerchug, “ besides, I have 
found that it is not a very healthy place to live around here. 
The pool is so very damp, and you know that I cannot stand 
malaria, so I have decided to move.” 

“ It seems to me,” said Sly Fox, “ that you had better wait 
until you have finished this affair with Jumping Jehosophat. I 
am surprised that you should be afraid to jump with such an 
awkward looking creature as he is.” 

“ But I am afraid that he can go further than I can,” re- 
plied Kerchug. 

“ Don’t worry about that,” answered Sly Fox, “ you just 
leave that to me. You tell him that you will meet him to-mor- 
row morning.” 

So Kerchug, the leap-frog, hid his bundle in the bulrushes 
and marched back to the stone in front of the pool and croaked 
for Carrier Pigeon to come back. 

“ Tell Jumping Jehosophat, whoever he is,” said he, “ that 
I’ll meet him to-morrow morning at 9 o’clock under the old oak 
tree, and I will show him something about jumping.” 

All the birds in the woods went the next morning to the 
old oak tree. The branches of the tree were so full of birds 



JUMPING KANGAROO 


19 


that some of them sagged way down. Under the tree the 
ground was all hard and smooth. Jumping Jehosophat was 
there waiting. He was certainly a queer animal. He had a 
great big body and a little bit of a head. His hind legs were 
long and strong and his front legs were no bigger than a rab- 
bit’s. As he stood up he was almost as tall as a man ; his fur 
was gray and he had funny little eyes which twinkled as he 
talked. On his breast were at least a dozen medals for jump- 
ing. He folded his arms and hopped about on his hind legs. 

“ Birds in the tree,” he said, “ in me you see the great 
Jumping Jehosophat, the bounding kangaroo. Because I jump 
so high I got away from the circus. Now, then, where is that 
miserable little speckled green thing that thinks it can jump? ” 

Nobody spoke for a long time and then Sly Fox came out 
from behind the bushes, carrying a bulrush for a cane. 

“ Birds in the tree,” said Sly Fox, “ the great and only 
Kerchug, the only creature who is not afraid to leap both in the 
water and on the dry land, has just finished his test, and is now 
on his way to show how a truly great leap frog can jump.” 

“ There he is ! ” screamed all the birds up in the tree. And, 
sure enough, there came Kerchug, all dressed up in green 
tights, with spangles all over them. Sly Fox, who had gone 
into the bushes to bring him out, came up behind him, carrying 
a great, big stone. 

“ With this e-nor-mous stone,” said Sly Fox, “ Kerchug 
has just leaped 100 times, so as to get ready for some real 


20 JUMPING KANGAROO 

jumping. He will now wait until this poor and awkward 
creature here has a chance to do the same, so that you will all 
say that he has been fair.” 

“ O, that is easy! ” said Jumping Jehosophat. 

So the bounding kangaroo took the big stone in his little 
arms and jumped up into the air ioo times. 

“ Now, then,” said Sly Fox, “ we shall have the pleasure 
of seeing who is the better jumper, Jumping Jehosophat, the 
bounding kangaroo, or my little friend here, who leaps as well 
on the dry land as in the wettest pool.” 

Then Kerchug made a great, big jump, and Sly Fox 
marked the place. 

Jumping Jehosophat, who was all tired out and sore by 
leaping when he carried the big stone, could only make a little 
bit of a jump, and did not come within a foot of the place 
where Kerchug had leaped. He was so ashamed that he ran 
into the bushes and hid. So Kerchug, all covered with medals, 
went back to his pool, hand in hand with his friend, Sly Fox, 
and all the birds in the trees, as they flew away, cried out : 
“ What a wonderful jumper is our little friend Kerchug, the 
leap-frog ! ” 


YELLOW LION AND HEDGEHOG’S 
SCRIBBLING 





Yellow Lion finds Hedgehog's scribbling. 


II 

YELLOW LION AND HEDGE- 
HOG’S SCRIBBLING 

H EDGEHOG was always scribbling. He sat at his 
desk in his house in the woods and wrote so much 
that he hardly stopped to eat his meals. He had 
quills stuck behind his ears, and whenever he 
thought of anything which would make any of the beasts angry, 
especially Yellow Lion, he wrote it down on a piece of birch 
bark. For ink he used pokeberry juice. 

Yellow Lion awoke one morning and found a sign tacked 
to the door of his house with one of Hedgehog’s quills. On 
the sign was written : 

“ Lion, you are a big, yellow animal.” 

“Who wrote that?” roared Yellow Lion. “I am no 
more of an animal than he is.” 

Everybody knows that Yellow Lion is very proud, for he 
is the king of beasts. So Yellow Lion went out and sharpened 
his claws on the trunk of a tree and started to get revenge for 
the name that he had been called. He had not gone very far 
before he saw another piece of bark tacked up to a tree with 
one of Hedgehog’s quills. On it was written : 

23 



Little Monkey explains. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 25 

“ Lions, take notice. The quill is mightier than the 
claw.” 

Yellow Lion picked off the sign and shook it between his 
paws. 

“ The idea,” he said. “ This is an insult. Just let me 
find out who wrote that and there will be an awful time in this 
jungle.” 

He had only gone half a mile before he met Big Elephant. 

“ Elephant,” he roared; “whose writing is this?” 

Big Elephant put on his glasses and picked up the piece 
of bark and looked at it very carefully. 

“ Sometimes,” he said, “ I write in my sleep. You know, 
I used to write visiting cards, with my feet, and since I stand 
up when I am asleep maybe I write a little without knowing it. 
I don’t remember this.” 

“ You are a foolish, old elephant,” roared Yellow Lion, 
and he bounded away so angrily that he could hardly see. He 
almost ran into Striped Tiger. 

“ Pardon me,” said Yellow Lion, for he had a great re- 
spect for Striped Tiger. 

“ Don’t mention it,” answered Striped Tiger, showing his 
white teeth. “ What is this I hear about your mane ? ” 

“ Name,” replied Yellow Lion. 

“ O, well, it’s much the same,” purred Striped Tiger. 
“ The same letters. You come with me and I’ll show you 
something that will make you feel very glad.” 



Hedgehog writing at his desk 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


27 


Striped Tiger winked at Big Elephant, who had just come 
up, and all three walked through the jungle. Striped Tiger 
led Yellow Lion to a large rock, on which was written: 

“ He has a mane which is rusty. He needs a haircut.” 

“ This is too much,” roared Yellow Lion. 

“ Ha ! ha ! ” laughed somebody way up in the trees. 

Yellow Lion looked up and saw Little Monkey swinging 
along the tree tops by his tail. Little Monkey had a cap on 
his head and a piece of birch bark and a quill under his arm. 

“ Come down ! ” roared Yellow Lion. 

He talked so loud that Little Monkey was scared, and let 
go his tail and fell to the ground. Yellow Lion picked him up 
and shook him. On the piece of bark which Little Monkey had 
was written, “A poor, innocent goat was killed. Ask Yellow 
Lion.” 

“ Now I have you!” snarled Yellow Lion. “F 11 teach 
you to write such things and put them up on trees.” 

“ Please, I’m only a messenger boy,” whimpered Little 
Monkey. “ Hedgehog wrote it.” 

“ I’ll not eat you up ! ” roared Yellow Lion, “ if you will 
take me to your master.” 

So Little Monkey led Yellow Lion to Hedgehog’s house. 
Yellow Lion went right into the room where Hedgehog was 
writing at his desk. 

“ Hedgehog,” said Yellow Lion, “ you have been calling 
me names. You wrote that I had a mane — ” 



Hedgehog drives his quills. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


29 


“ I thought that you had,” answered Hedgehog, in a 
meek, little voice. 

He was sitting on a barrel before his desk, and kept on 
writing as hard as he could. He had sheets of bark all around 
him, and his hands and face were all over pokeberry ink. 

“ That was all rusty. It is false,” continued Yellow Lion. 

“ Your mane looks as though it were real,” replied Hedge- 

hog. 

“ You said I ought to have a haircut,” added Yellow Lion. 

“ Which one of your hairs,” sighed Hedgehog. 

“ Hedgehog,” roared Yellow Lion, “ your time has come. 
You miserable, little — ” 

“ What did you say? ” asked Hedgehog. “ I am hard of 
hearing.” 

“ Quill driver,” thundered Yellow Lion. 

With that Hedgehog moved the back of his neck in such 
a way that all the quills which were sticking behind his ears 
came out like arrows shot from the bow. They stuck in the 
face of Yellow Lion and made him jump and squeal and beg 
for mercy. Yellow Lion ran out of the place with his paws 
all over his face and the tears running down his cheeks. 

“ I may be a quill driver,” said Hedgehog, as he dipped a 
quill in pokeberry juice, “ but when I am writing I cannot 
afford to be annoyed by big, yellow animals.” 




THE ANT’S AUNT GIVES A PICNIC 



The Ant's aunt scolds the Ant's uncle. 




Ill 

THE ANT’S AUNT GIVES A 
PICNIC 


T HE ant’s aunt had to give a picnic, because she had 
been invited to so many places by all her relatives, 
she thought it was time to pay back some of the in- 
vitations. 

“ But it will be such a bother,” said the ant’s uncle, when 
he heard about it. 

“ Don’t be foolish, now,” replied the ant’s aunt. “ We 
cannot go in society without going to some trouble.” 

So the ant’s uncle said that it would be all right, for he 
always said something of that kind when his wife talked about 
giving a party. 

He was sleeping early the next morning, when his wife 
woke him and said : “ Benjamin, Benjamin, did you remem- 

ber to get the lemons and the sugar ? ” 

“ No,” replied the ant’s uncle, as he rolled over again in 
bed. “ The grocery store was closed.” 

“ Then you will have to go into the kitchen of the man’s 
house and get as much as you can carry before the cook gets 
up.” 


33 






J 


JUMPING KANGAROO 35 

“ The last time I was there,” muttered Benjamin, “ I near- 
ly got blown up with the kerosene can.” 

By the time the ant’s uncle got back to his house he found 
more than a hundred ants of all kinds walking up and down 
and carrying all kinds of provisions. 

“ You are very late,” said the ant’s aunt. “ What did you 
do about the swing, Benjamin? Did you stop and sCe the 
spider about it ? ” 

Benjamin had forgotten all about the swing, so he had, to 
go back to where the spider kept a shop, and he came back after 
a while with a wheelbarrow loaded down with rope. The ant’s 
aunt was lame, and she had to walk with a cane. She was at 
the head of the picnic party and Benjamin, the ant’s uncle, came 
last of all with his wheelbarrow filled with rope and baskets and 
sugar and lemons and tubs and glasses and everything which 
might be used on a picnic. The ants went to Deacon Jones’ 
woods, and as they got nearer, they heard all kinds of strange 
noises. All the animals and all the birds came out to see the 
picnic go by. The ants walked on until they came to a bare 
spot in the middle of the woods, and there they stopped and put 
down their bundles and baskets. 

“ This will be a nice place to set the table,” said the ant’s 
aunt. “ Now, Benjamin, while I am doing all the work, sup- 
pose you go and put up the swing for the children.” 

The ant’s uncle said something underneath his breath and 
then he took the rope and the boards and things and put up 153 



Uncle Ant and his wheelbarrow. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 37 

swings. He hurt his knee and sprained his back and cut his 
fingers. He also stubbed his toes. 

“ You needn’t feel so badly about hurting your toes,” said 
a centipede, who stopped to look, “ suppose you had toes on 100 
feet to stub, then you could afford to talk.” 

The ant’s uncle returned to the place where the table was 
being set. He threw his hat over on the grass and sat down, 
saying, “ I am very tired and a little rest would do me a great 
deal of good.” 

“ Benjamin, Benjamin,” cried the ant’s aunt, “ how could 
you do such a thing ? ” 

“ Why, just you see what Uncle Benjamin did,” cried all 
the small ants at once. 

“ You ought not to be so careless,” replied Benjamin, 
“ how was I to know that it was a custard pie? I thought it 
was a nice cushion you put there for me.” 

The ant’s uncle started to get his hat and walk away. He 
had not gone very far before he became red in the face with 
anger. 

“ Get off my hat,” all the ants heard him say, “ how dare 
you sit on a poor ant’s hat like that. Haven’t you any man- 
ners?” 

“ What is the matter, Benjamin? ” asked the ant’s aunt, 
picking up her cane and hobbling toward her husband. 

“ This miserable man,” yelled the ant’s uncle, “ has the im- 
pudence to sit down on my hat and he won’t get up.” 





The Ant's uncle thinks the custard pie is 


JUMPING KANGAROO 39 

The man looked in the direction of Benjamin and then 
yawned and got up and walked away. 

“ Benjamin, Benjamin,” cried the ant’s aunt, a few min- 
utes later, “ little Betsy Ann has come back and she says that 
nearly a dozen of the children started to climb a mountain and 
the mountain got up and walked away. Won’t you please go 
and try and find them ? ” 

The ant’s uncle jammed his crushed silk hat down over his 
eyes, picked up a big switch and went to find the children. He 
walked and walked until he came to a place where a whole lot 
of men and women were sitting in a circle while the mosquitos 
ate them. The men and women were eating pickles and dry 
sandwiches and trying to look happy. Uncle Benjamin hur- 
ried down the middle of the tablecloth, calling, “ Children, 
children,” at the top of his voice. Everywhere he went he met 
some of those miserable little children who had run away from 
their own picnic. He found them sitting on the edge of a 
sponge cake dangling their feet and kicking holes in the icing. 
They were perched on loaves of bread and up on top of a plate 
of sliced ham, they were playing hide and seek. Some of them 
had climbed up into a great big tin reservoir. There were all 
their clothes on the edge and they were having a swim. 

“ Didn’t I tell you not to go near the water? ” asked Uncle 
Benjamin, shaking his switch. “ Now, where do I find you? ” 

“ It isn’t water,” said all the children ants; “ it’s lemon- 


ade.” 


40 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


It took the ant’s uncle more than an hour to get all the 
children together. 

“Why don’t you come away from here?” he said. 
“ Don’t you hear all the men and women talking and saying 
that it would be such a delightful place here if it were not for 
those miserable ants ? ” 

“ They didn’t say a word,” replied the children, “ until 
you came.” 

This made Uncle Benjamin so angry that he swung his 
switch and chased all the children before him back to the place 
where the table of the ants’ picnic had been spread. Way over 
to one side was the ant’s aunt all alone. She had her handker- 
chief to her eyes, and was crying as though her heart would 
break. 

“Why, what’s the matter?” asked Uncle Benjamin. 
“ What in the world has happened? ” 

“ Why, can’t you see? ” replied the ant’s aunt. “ A mis- 
erable man came this way and stepped right on the table, and 
when he lifted up his foot everything was ruined.” 

“ Come on, children,” said Uncle Benjamin, “ Let us all 
go back to the men’s picnic. After he has treated us this way, 
he deserves that we should tease him and all his family.” 

That is the reason that, when men and women give picnics 
all the ants in the neighborhood go and plague them. 


THEIR FAT FRIEND 



IY 

THEIR FAT FRIEND 

G RAY Mouse and White Rabbit lived under the floor 
of the barn and were very happy. The only 
thing which ever bothered them was Small Dog. 
They hated Small Dog worse than poison. 

“ Poison always stays in one place/’ said Gray Mouse, 
but Small Dog is always jumping and digging. If he lives 
around this barn we might as well go away. Why, the other 
day he chased me right up to my front door, and if I had not 
been quick with my latch key, I am afraid that he would have 
jostled me very rudely! ” 

Then Gray Mouse stopped talking and nearly jumped out 
of his skin. White Rabbit raised his ears and made his whisk- 
ers tremble. Right over their heads they heard a noise like 
thunder. Gray Mouse and White Rabbit ran up under the 
manger and peeped out. There they saw something which 
looked like a big barrel placed on four piano legs. It had a 
long pipe in front of it, four or five times bigger than the gar- 
den hose, and this big pipe was swinging backward and for- 
ward. 

“ What’s that ? ” asked White Rabbit, resting his paw on 
Gray Mouse’s arm. 


43 







Please, Mighty Mouse! 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


45 


“ It looks to me,” answered Gray Mouse, “ like an animal 
which the man has in the parlor of his house, at least his legs 
look like those of that poor beast. The man’s daughter boxes 
the creature’s ears for two hours every morning, and although 
he cries and cries she will not stop.” 

“ You do not know very much,” whispered White Rabbit. 
“ I heard the man say one morning that his little girl was 
pounding the piano in the parlor, and this thing is not a piano 
at all.” 

Just then the creature winked his little eyes and made its 
big ears go flop, flop. 

“ It seems to be alive,” said White Rabbit. 

“ Yes,” answered Gray Mouse, “ and it looks a little bit 
like me only he is bigger than Black Horse. What a funny 
long nose he has ! You speak to him, White Rabbit. 

“ I’m too bashful,” replied White Rabbit, as he backed 
away. 

He caught hold of Gray Mouse and pushed him right 
through the hole under the manger. Gray Mouse fell on the 
ground in front of the strange animal. One of the big beast’s 
feet kicked up the earth and covered up the hole out of which 
Gray Mouse had come. Gray Mouse was so scared that he did 
not know what to do. Besides he heard Small Dog snuffing 
at the barn door and scratching with his paws. 

“ What in the world shall I do ? ” squealed Gray Mouse. 
“ Suppose Small Dog should get in ? The door is not latched 
and he could open it, with his sharp nose and his big paws.” 



I’ll break every bone in your body ! 


JUMPING KANGAROO 47 

Gray Mouse crouched down in a corner and trembled all 

over. 

“ O, O,” he cried, “ what shall I do? ” 

Then the big beast heard him and looked down, his eyes 
opened wide and he hopped around on his great feet and made 
a noise like a trumpet. 

“ Please, Mighty Mouse,” roared the big beast, “ don’t 
crawl up my trunk ; please don’t bite my poor, little, tender ears. 
Spare my life and I will always be your friend.” 

Gray Mouse tried to stop trembling, for he saw that the 
great beast was afraid of him. He stood up on his hind legs, 
folded his arms, took a deep breath, and swelled out his chest. 

“And who are you, sir?” squeaked Gray Mouse, “that 
you dare to shake down the. plastering of my house with your 
clumsy feet? ” 

“ Please, sir,” answered the big beast between his sobs, “ I 
am only a poor little elephant, who came in town with the cir- 
cus, and they put me here in your barn until it was time to 
parade. I am sorry that I knocked down the plastering of your 
house, and if you will have mercy on me I will come down there 
and put it back again.” 

“ Don’t be afraid,” whispered White Rabbit, who had dug 
away the earth from over the hole under the manger and had 
come out behind Gray Mouse. “ Whip him, Gray Mouse; here 
is a straw; now give him a good beating.” 

Elephants are afraid of mice. So Gray Mouse, with his 



All three are very good friends. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 49 

paws all shaking, took the straw and walked toward the ele- 
phant. He heard the hinges of the barn door creaking. 

“ Come away, Gray Mouse,” cried White Rabbit, “ Small 
Dog is coming.” 

“ I’ll let you alone on one condition, Elephant,” said Gray 
Mouse, trying to be brave, although he was trembling so that 
he could hardly hold the straw, “ and that is when you see any 
of my enemies trying to annoy me, that you teach him a good 
lesson.” 

Small Dog got the door open and came jumping with his 
mouth wide open and his white teeth shining. Gray Mouse 
and White Rabbit ran into the hole under the manger. The 
Elephant, who feared nothing on earth except mice and flies, 
for he had once killed a tiger, wound his trunk around Small 
Dog. He lifted Small Dog up to the rafters and threw him 
down on the ground so hard that all the bark went out of him. 

“ If you disturb my little friends again,” roared the Ele- 
phant, “ I’ll break every bone in your body.” 

Small Dog walked on crutches for weeks after that, and 
he has never annoyed White Rabbit and Gray Mouse in their 
happy home. In fact, all three became very good friends and 
many is the time I have seen them sitting out in the barnyard 
smoking their corn-cob pipes. 








V 

v > 


j 




WHITE RABBIT’S CHEESE SCRUPLE 

/' . • 






















White Rabbit and Gray Mouse go to the cellar. 


¥ 

WHITE RABBIT’S CHEESE 
SCRUPLE 


W HITE Rabbit had so many scruples that some- 
times he could not sleep. He awoke one 
night and came over to Gray Mouse’s bed 
and pulled at the covers. 

“ Gray Mouse,” he whispered, “ I have a scruple, and it 
keeps me awake. I am afraid that it would not be right for 
you to go to the Man’s house to-night just because there has 
been a party, and there are so many good things lying around 
within reach.” 

“ Who said anything about cake? ” yawned Gray Mouse, 
and he rolled over as if he were going to sleep again. 

“ Gray Mouse,” called White Rabbit, “ I thought that I 
ought to ask you. Do you think it would be wrong if I went 
along with you and just took a look into the cellar to see if that 
careless cook had forgotten to put away the carrots ? ” 

“ Certainly not,” answered Gray Mouse, scrambling out of 
bed. “ Even if you should make a mistake and eat some car- 
rots, it would be all right, because it would teach that cook to 
be careful. I heard the man’s wife tell her only the other day 

53 



Greeneyes gets the trap. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


55 


that she was the most careless cook they had had for a week. 
If I should find some cake, it would be well for me to eat as 
much of it as I can, so as to keep the man’s children from 
making themselves ill.” 

So Gray Mouse and White Rabbit hurried out from under 
the barn floor and went to the cellar of the man’s house, 
laughing and jumping. 

“ What a pretty, little house,” said Gray Mouse, for in the 
centre of the cellar floor was a little wire box with a funny door. 

Gray Mouse and White Rabbit walked all around it. 

“ Why,” said Gray Mouse, “ it has cheese inside of it. 
Put in your paw, White Rabbit, and pull out that fine supper 
for me.” 

“ No, thank you,” answered White Rabbit, “ I have such a 
scruple. That is toasted cheese inside of the little house, and 
toasted cheese is what men call Welsh Rabbit. I will let you 
know, Gray Mouse, that I am no cannibal. The door is open. 
Why don’t you go in and get the cheese yourself? ” 

“ You are not very obliging, White Rabbit,” replied Gray 
Mouse, “ but since you are so mean I think that I will get it 
myself.” 

So Gray Mouse walked into the wire house and tried to 
carry away the cheese which was fastened on a little rod. 
There was a click and the door of the wire house closed behind 
Gray Mouse with a snap. Gray Mouse was in a trap which 
the man had set for him. 



» 


I 


V 


Gray Mouse goes into the trap. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


57 


“ Help me out, White Rabbit,” shrieked Gray Mouse. 
“ Your jaws are larger than mine. Bite a hole in the side of 
this house so I can come out ! ” 

White Rabbit had chewed carrots and turnips and soft 
things all his life, and it only set his teeth on edge when he 
tried to cut a way for Gray Mouse out of the little wire 
house. 

“ Scat B-r-r-r,” came a noise, and old Green Eyes, the cat, 
sprang from out behind a tub. White Rabbit jumped out of 
reach. 

“ Ugh ! ” meowed Green Eyes to Gray Mouse, “ I’ve got 
a thief and I’m going to eat him.” 

Green Eyes tried as hard as he could to get his paws 
through the cage. One of his claws caught Gray Mouse in the 
side and made the blood come. Green Eyes became, very angry 
when he saw that he could not reach Gray Mouse. He struck 
the trap with his claws. He picked it up and gave it a good 
shaking. He lifted it over his head and threw it down on the 
floor as hard as he could. The trap rolled over and over and at 
last rested bottom side up. That made the door, which had 
been closed all this time, fall back. When Gray Mouse saw 
that the door was open all he had to do was to jump right out 
of the trap. He scuttled out of that cellar as fast as he could 
and up at the top of the steps he met White Rabbit. 

“ It was very warm down there,” said White Rabbit, as 
he saw Gray Mouse, “ and you know that my fur is so thick 



■> . 


White Rabbit turns over the trap. 



JUMPING KANGAROO 59 

that I did not feel like staying down there any longer. It was 
very bright of you to get out of that trap.” 

Then White Rabbit and Gray Mouse went away to the 
barn laughing and chuckling to themselves. They went back 
to the house the next night. 

“ Now, then,” said White Rabbit, “ you go into the trap. 
Gray Mouse, and I will pretend that I am the cat.” 

Gray Mouse went into the trap and helped himself to the 
cheese, and when the door snapped he only laughed. Then 
White Rabbit turned the cage over and the door fell back and 
Gray Mouse crawled out again. 

“ That is very fine,” said White Rabbit. “ If it had not 
been for my cheese scruple it would never have happened. If I 
had put my paw in there I could not have reached the cheese, 
and besides that, you would not have had nearly so much fun.” 

Gray Mouse and White Rabbit went every night and got 
all the cheese in that trap and in all the traps around the house. 
Gray Mouse took home so much cheese that he did not know 
what to do with it, and White Rabbit feasted on carrots. They 
paid no attention to Green Eyes at all. Whenever the cat 
came after Gray Mouse, that saucy animal would get himself 
caught in a trap and laugh at the cat. Gray Mouse and White 
Rabbit grew bigger and stronger every day, and they could run 
so fast that the cat could never catch them. 






ABOUT THE APPLE BUTTER CAT 


I 



Greeneyes thinks. 



VI 

ABOUT THE APPLE BUTTER 
CAT 

G REEN-EYES, the cat, was very angry when he 
found that the man thought that he could not catch 
mice. He was afraid that he would be put out in 
the kennel with the dog. He and the dog had 
never been very good friends and he did not like the idea of be- 
ing in the same house with an animal with such sharp teeth and 
such a harsh voice. 

Green-eyes used to sit up all night with his paw on his 
head, saying, “ Let me think.” The neighbors’ cats came out 
on the back fence and made fun of Green-eyes all night long. 

“ It’s too bad,” they meowed, “ that you cannot see in the 
dark. Why, you cannot even see a big white rabbit.” 

Gray Mouse and his friend, White Rabbit, went every 
night to the cellar of the man’s house, where they helped them- 
selves to cake and apple pie and cheese and carrots. Green- 
eyes heard the man say that it was time to drown that good- 
for-nothing cat. He saw it was time for him to do some- 
thing to save his life, and so he kept on thinking and think- 
ing. 


63 





Patrick O’Possum pushes over the apple butter jar. 





JUMPING KANGAROO 


65 

He crawled under a pile of carrots on the cellar floor one 
night and the carrots fell all over and hid him all except 
the tip of his tail. Then he waited for White Rabbit and Gray 
Mouse. 

Now, that night Patrick OTossum went to visit Gray 
Mouse and White Rabbit. He was a friend of Gray Mouse’s 
cousin, Field Mouse, and whenever he went under the barn 
floor, where Gray Mouse and White Rabbit lived, he was very 
welcome. 

“ Gray Mouse,” asked Patrick O’Possum, “ do you know 
where I can get any good, sweet potatoes ? ” 

Gray Mouse winked at White Rabbit and said that he 
knew where there were sweet potatoes nearly a foot long and 
so sweet that sugar tasted like vinegar compared to them. Pat- 
rick O’Possum sighed and looked happy. 

“ I’ll take you to the next moonlight party I have,” he said, 
“if you will show me where I can find those very fine sweet 
potatoes.” 

So Patrick O’Possum, Gray Mouse and White Rabbit 
went running and hopping and laughing to the cellar of the 
man’s house. Patrick O’Possum turned to Gray Mouse and 
White Rabbit after he had taken a good look around the cellar, 
and then he smiled, and smiled. 

“ I like sweet potatoes very much,” he whispered as he 
drew White Rabbit and Grey Mouse close to him, “ but I would 
not give a cent a bushel for all the carrots in the world. If I 



Retreat of the Apple Butter Cat. 



JUMPING KANGAROO 67 

had white fur and long ears I would rather eschew those carrots 
over there than chew them.” 

Then Patrick O’Possum poked Gray Mouse and White 
Rabbit in the ribs and laughed inside. The sweet potatoes 
were in a large swinging box near the pile of carrots. Patrick 
O’ Possum jumped up and got on top of the box. He took out 
some sweet potatoes and tossed them down on the floor. White 
Rabbit picked them up and carried them out of the cellar, while 
Gray Mouse stood by. There was a long shelf above the 
swinging box where the sweet potatoes were and on this shelf 
were jars of jelly and jam and spiced watermelon and all kinds 
of good things. At one end was a big jar of apple butter. Af- 
ter Patrick O’ Possum had thrown down all the sweet potatoes 
that he wanted he crept along the shelf and gave the jar of ap- 
ple butter a hard push. It fell, struck the edge of the sweet po- 
tato bin, broke all to pieces and apple butter and broken jar 
and all fell right on top of the pile of carrots. There were the 
queerest sounds which came out of that pile of carrots that you 
ever heard. Green-eyes meowed and cried and kicked and 
arched up his back. He shook up that, pile of carrots as though 
there were an earthquake in the cellar. Then all covered over 
with apple butter and little carrots and bits of broken crock, 
he went up the cellar stairs yelling and screaming at every step. 

White Rabbit and Patrick O’Possum picked up all the 
sweet potatoes that they could carry and ran away to the barn. 
Gray Mouse led the way. As they hurried along they got a 




Did you ever see an Apple Butter Cat/ 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


69 

glimpse of the man who was coming down the hall in his night 
clothes with a gun over his shoulder. Just as the White Rab- 
bit, the Gray Mouse and Patrick O ’Possum scampered under 
the barn floor, they heard bang-bang, from the porch of the 
man’s house. 

“ That must have been a shot gun,” said White Rabbit, as 
he stroked his whiskers and smiled. 

“ Um, urn,” said Patrick O’Possum, “but these are good 
sweet potatoes. This is more fun than a coon hunt.” 

Green-Eyes never went back to the man’s house again. 
Many of his friends thought that the man had shot him and 
the next night out on the back yard fence, all the neighbors’ cats 
met together and sang his funeral song. I think, though, that 
Green-Eyes was not killed. One day, when I was out hunting 
in the woods, I stopped to take a drink at a little spring and a 
funny, little lizard stood on the edge and said : “ Excuse me, 

Mr. Hunter, but did you ever see an apple butter cat ? ” 



































# 



















* 


. »«r 

























♦ 












































GRAY MOUSE’S RICH BROTHER 




VII 

GRAY MOUSE’S RICH 
BROTHER 


G RAY Mouse was sitting on his front porch one after- 
noon, when he heard a rumble of wheels and a 
coach stopped before the door. It was the funni- 
est coach you ever saw, and it was drawn by four 
tumblebugs all covered with silver harness. Two grasshop- 
pers sat on the box. One of them jumped down and opened 
the door. Then a big, fat mouse, all dressed up and carrying 
a cane with a gold head, got out and came up the steps of Gray 
Mouse’s house. 

“ You don’t seem to know me,” said the fat mouse as he 
clapped Gray Mouse on the back. 

“ Your ways are familiar,” answered Gray Mouse, “ but 
your face I do not remember at all.” 

“ Why, I am your long-lost brother, Church Mouse,” 
squeaked that wealthy animal, “ and I have just come back to 
visit all my friends and relations.” 

Church Mouse strutted up and down the porch, whirled 
his cane and played with his watch chain. Gray Mouse was 
sitting in his old rocking chair and he had on his shabbiest pair 
of carpet slippers. 


73 



Adder asks what witch Church Mouse means. 



JUMPING KANGAROO 


75 

“ You need not be so proud,” said Gray Mouse. “ I re- 
member the time when you did not have a piece of cheese with 
which to bless yourself. Don’t put on any airs with your coach 
and your old tumblebugs. I have not forgotten when you 
lived in the church across the road, and were so poor that many 
is the time you were glad to come over to my poor little house 
for dinner.” 

“ You need not be cross,” replied Church Mouse, “ I am 
not proud, and to-morrow I shall bring you a very large 
cheese.” 

“ I am very glad to see you,” said Gray Mouse, chang- 
ing his manners and smiling. “ Now, tell me how did you get 
so sleek and fat ? ” 

Gray Mouse brought his best easy chair out on the porch, 
and Church Mouse sat down in it and crossed his hands over 
his stomach. 

“Well, I was so poor,” began Church Mouse, “ that many 
is the time I have gnawed the backs of hymn books. One day 
I was wondering how I was going to get along, and decided 
to be a book agent. So I got Hedge Hog, who is clever with 
quills, to write a book for me, called ‘ The True History of the 
Great Which What.’ Then I started out to sell it. 

Well, it was very hard work at first. Cochin, the chick- 
en, slammed the door of his coop right in my face. Chip 
Munk chased me off his door mat, Snapping Turtle called me 
names and bit off the end of my tail. Then I saw the Adder 



Yellow Lion inquires if there is anything in the book about him. 



JUMPING KANGAROO 7 7 

and I said just as politely as I could : ‘ Mr. Adder, I have here 

the True History of the Great Which What.’ 

What witch ? ’ asked Adder, who was as deaf as any- 
thing. He had an ear trumpet, but I do not believe that the 
trumpet helped him to hear any better. 

“ ‘No witch,’ I answered. 

“ ‘ Norwich is in Connecticut,’ answered Adder. ‘ That 
is where I bought my ear trumpet.’ 

“ < I said Which What,’ said I. 

“ ‘ No,’ replied the Adder, ‘ I do not need any dried apples 
to-day.’ 

“ I was so angry that I cried. I went to the wheat bin out 
in Deacon Jones’ barn and there I met my old friend, Weevil. 

“ ‘ Of course,’ said Weevil, when I told him about my bad 
luck, ‘ you don’t sell books here because everybody is so intelli- 
gent. You come with me to Asia and you will do far better.’ 

“ So I stayed in the bin with Weevil. In a day or two, the 
wheat was put in a wagon and taken to the railroad station. 
Before long it arrived in New York. Then it was thrown 
down hill into a ship and for days and days after that Weevil 
and I knew nothing except the splash of waters and the tip, tip 
of that great ship. 

“ We reached the place called Asia. As soon as I got a 
chance I said good-by to Weevil and walked until I was in the 
jungle. When you sell books it is a good thing to know some- 
body who is big. Weevil told me to go the first thing and se° 






Gray Mouse says he is proud of his rich brother. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 79 

Yellow Lion. I heard Yellow Lion roaring among the trees 
and I walked up to where he was sitting. 

“ 4 Yellow Lion/ I said very politely, ‘ Yellow Lion, won’t 
you please buy my book ? ’ 

“ ‘ Has it got anything about me in it?’ asked Yellow 

Lion. 

“ ‘ No,’ I answered. 

“ 4 Well, then, I have no time to talk to little animals like 
you,’ said Yellow Lion. ‘ You will oblige me by getting out 
of my lair, or I shall step all over you.’ 

“ ‘ Very well,’ I answered; ‘I do not wish to crowd you, 
Yellow Lion ; and I am not of a revengeful nature.’ So I stood 
up straight, and looked very proud and angry. 

“ Two days after that I was walking through the jungle 
when I heard a loud noise. I peeped through the bushes and 
there I saw Yellow Lion lying under a hammock. 

“ ‘ Good morning,’ I said. 4 Seeing that you are so com- 
fortable in your nice, new hammock, I thought I would just 
come and say how d’ye do/ 

“ * You mean, little animal ! ’ roared Yellow Lion, ‘ don’t 
you see that the hunters have caught me in a net ? ’ 

“ ‘ It is too bad,’ I answered, 4 that you are in a net, but it 
is still worse to be in the jungle without a copy of “ The True 
History of the Great Which What.” In the little book which 
I hold in my hand is told why the what is which and what the 
what what said to the which who of the when did.’ 


8o 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


44 4 Stop, stop! ’ roared Yellow Lion. 

“ 4 Here is a chapter/ said I, 4 which tells how a lion got 
caught in a net and how a poor, little mouse in return for a 
kindness cut the net with his sharp teeth and set the lion free/ 

“ ‘ What kindness? ’ asked Yellow Lion. 

“ 4 All that the lion did/ I answered, * was to buy a book 
which the mouse was selling.’ 

“ 4 I’ll take that book,’ said Yellow Lion. 4 I’ll take a hun- 
dred of them — and when I get out I’ll make everybody else buy 
one.’ 

“ 4 All right, Yellow Lion,’ said I. 

44 Then I gnawed the net, and Yellow Lion got away. The 
king of beasts kept his word. I sold more than a million copies 
of the book from that one sample, for Yellow Lion told all the 
beasts that they must buy. That is how I became so rich.” 

44 You are certainly a clever little animal,” said Gray 
Mouse, when Church Mouse had finished the story. 44 I am 
very proud of my rich brother.” 


AT THE CHURCH MOUSE’S CIRCUS 




White Rabbit pretends to be a lion. 



VIII 

AT THE CHURCH MOUSE’S 
CIRCUS 

C HURCH Mouse had so much money after he came 
back from India that he decided to start a circus. 

“ There is nothing,” said he, “ which will 
make so much money as a circus, for red lemonade 
costs only half a cent a barrel and we sell it for five cents a 
glass ; and there is so very much money in selling candy at two 
sticks for a cent apiece that I really think that I ought to start 
a very fine circus.” 

So he hired all the spiders he could find to make him a tent 
and had Patrick O’Possum cut some very fine tent poles. He 
pitched the tent right out in the middle of Deacon Jones’ 
meadow lot. He got Ugly Dog to sell tickets because nobody 
would dare to give Ugly Dog any bad money. Ugly Dog was 
such a good barker that all the animals and all the birds could 
hear him as he said : 

“ Here, birds and animals, is your superior circus. Step 
right up and see the fierce lion, brought from his native lair and 
the great and only striped tiger which can eat a man without 
asking by your leave. Come on, birds and animals, for this is 

83 



Clown Leapfrog's joke. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


85 


the only show on earth owned by a church mouse. Circus, me- 
nagerie and hiphopadrome, all under one tent. Walk right up.” 

Church Mouse had tried to get a real live tiger, but he 
found that he could not afford to pay for a tiger’s ticket all the 
way from India, so he got his friend Field Mouse to put on 
striped clothes and look very fierce and be the tiger. Mole was 
the elephant and V/hite Rabbit put some wool around his neck 
for a mane and pretended that he was a lion. This circus was 
held at night and the glow worms came in free on condition 
that they would hang from the top of the tent and give all the 
light that was needed. 

Church Mouse had been so careful in arranging the circus 
that when the animals came they thought it was the finest show 
which they had ever seen. When they got to looking too close- 
ly at anything and began to wonder if all lions were white and 
had long ears, the lights would go out all at once and they had 
to think about something else. Over in one corner was a little 
musk rat in a tank and all the animals and all the birds, al- 
though they thought that they had seen him before, believed 
that he was a hippopotamus. The more they looked at him the 
more they wondered, for he seemed like such a wonderful 
animal. 

When the time for the circus came, all the birds and all 
the animals gathered around the ring for which more than a 
hundred ants had brought the sand. There was a loud clap- 
ping of hands and the Tumblebug Brothers came into the centre 




Salamander says he eats fire. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


87 


of the ring kissing their hands to the crowd and making a low 
bow to everybody. They leaped up into the air and turned 
somersaults and stood on their heads, and whirled around on 
their backs. Every time they did anything wonderful all the 
beasts and all the birds clapped their paws or shook their wings 
and said : “ Isn’t this a very fine show, indeed ? ” 

Then about twenty ants, all dressed up in green, rolled two 
great big balls into the middle of the ring. Each Tumblebug 
took one of these balls, which was as big as he was himself, and 
whirled it around and up and down, and then he lay on his 
back and with his feet threw the ball clear up into the air and 
caught it again. Then the Tumblebugs threw the balls back 
and forth to each other. 

Nimble Grasshopper came out, and he jumped clear over 
the back of the make-believe elephant and the make-believe lion 
and came right down again on his feet. Then Leap Frog came 
stumbling out into the middle of the ring all covered over with 
flour and with red paint on his face and a little bit of a white 
pointed hat on his head. 

“ When is a mouse when it is spinning? ” he asked. 

All the animals and all the beasts looked at each other and 
said : “ Why, we don’t understand. When is a mouse when 

it is spinning? ” 

Leap Frog looked all around, and then said r “ What ! 
Give it up? Don’t know? Can’t guess? Too hard? Why, 
it’s very easy indeed. The answer is, a paper of tacks.” 





Church Mouse's circus burns. 


^ — 


JUMPING KANGAROO 89 

Then all the birds and all the animals laughed like any- 
thing. 

“ What a very good joke/’ they said. “ How very clever ! 
And isn’t it strange that we should never have thought of it 
before? ” 

“ Now, then,” said Church Mouse, who was all dressed up 
in a long coat, and had a silk hat and a long whip. “ As the 
ring master of this show, I want to introduce my great and 
good friend, Sig Salamander, who eats fire for breakfast in- 
stead of oatmeal, and drinks his coffee boiling hot. He will 
now do himself the honor of eating a red hot poker as though 
it were a stick of molasses candy.” 

Then Salamander came out, followed by four mice, carry- 
ing a pan of coals. 

“ Everything that I have,” said Salamander, “ must be red 
hot. Once I ate some red pepper drops and ever since that 
nothing has been too hot for me,” 

He ate all sorts of fire, and then Wasp got up and said that 
he did not think Salamander could stand everything hot, and 
with this he gave him a sting. 

Salamander ran away from the place, and as he turned to 
go his feet kicked the pan of coals and sent them way up in the 
air, until they set fire to the tent. All the beasts and all the 
birds saw the flames above them, and they were nearly scared to 
death. They scampered everyway that they could. They 
knocked down the seats and kicked over the tent poles, upset the 


9 o 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


animal cages and spilled the red lemonade. Before Church 
Mouse knew what had happened his tent had all burned up, and 
it was all that he could do to save his money and his boxes of 
cheese. After it was all over he sat looking at the ruins, and 
then said : 

“ It seems to me that I have made a great mistake. If I 
ever have a salamander in a circus of mine again I will have 
everybody who sees the circus a salamander, too.” 

Although the tent had burned up, Church Mouse had 
made so much money that he did not have to work any more. 
He built a fine house, and every Sunday as you saw him sitting 
in church under one of the pews you would never have believed 
that he knew a single thing about circuses. 


HOOT OWL INVENTS GOLF 



Bogey Man disturbs the animals' houses. 


IX 

HOOT OWL INVENTS GOLF 

T HE Bogey Man was so fond of playing golf that he 
never had time to think of anything else. He 
lived on oatmeal water and smoked a pipe filled 
with cabbage leaves and chopped hay. Golf was 
played in those days with one straight stick, and all you had to 
do was to knock round stones over the meadow. The Bogey 
Man was very careless, and he was always sending the golf 
balls into the holes where the rabbits, field mice and snakes 
lived. He played every day in Deacon Jones’ meadow lot. 
He used to take his stick, when he lost the balls and pry into the 
homes of the poor, little animals and snakes. In that way he 
spoiled the walls and broke the parlor furniture. 

One day, the Bogey Man put a ball on top of an ant’s 
house, because he said he could strike it better. The roof of 
the house fell in and the ant’s aunt was so badly hurt that she 
never got over it. 

“ Something must be done,” said all the snakes and rab- 
bits and field mice and ants who lived in Deacon Jones’ meadow 
lot. 

They had a convention near the old stump in the middle 
of the meadow, and the garter snake was the president. 


93 



Field Mouse asks if the Bogey Man scares the children. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


95 


“ Is this the person who always scares the children so? ” 
asked the field mouse. 

“ No,” replied the Hoot Owl, who was the wisest of birds. 
“ He is worse than that. He is the man who thinks that he 
knows how to play golf.” 

“ Hoot Owl,” whispered the Garter Snake, “ you and Sly 
Fox must get rid of this terrible Bogey Man, who is all the 
time poking around our houses and making us uncomfort- 
able.” 

When the Bogey Man went to play golf in the pasture 
next day, he heard a hoarse voice away up in a tree. 

“ Hoot man, hoot ! ” said the voice. “ It seems to me that 
you really do not know how to play golf.” 

The Hoot Owl came down from the tree all dressed up 
in baggy, spotted clothes. He had a pipe in his beak and a big 
club in one claw. 

“ I’ll let you know,” replied the Bogey Man, “ that I have 
had games with some of the very best players in the country, 
and besides that I can talk Scotch better than you can.” 

“ Ho, ho,” answered the Owl, “ my people said hoot be- 
fore there were any Scotchmen. Fve come to show you how to 
play the real game of golf. 

“ Follow me,” screamed the Hoot Owl. 

He led the Bogey Man to a field which was all rough. The 
rabbits and the field mice had been working all night making 
holes everywhere they could. 



JUMPING KANGAROO 97 

“ Why, this is no place to play golf,” said the Bogey Man 
as he took a big drink of oatmeal water. 

“ It’s fine,” said the Hoot Owl, “ Isn’t it, Sly Fox? ” 

Sly Fox came up with a whole bagful of sticks with 
twisted roots on the end of them. The Bogey Man had al- 
ways played with just one straight stick. Sly Fox had gone 
into the woods, where he pulled up saplings and kept those 
which had the funniest and the ugliest roots. 

“ Now, then,” said the Hoot Owl, “ I guess that we are 
all ready. Sly Fox, you can carry the clubs.” 

The Hoot Owl and Sly Fox made the Bogey Man use all 
of the queer kinds of sticks which they had brought. He had 
to shove the balls into holes all over the field, and then he had 
to spoon them out again with two or three kinds of clubs, and 
then shove them over to another hole. As fast as he got 
through with one club Sly Fox would take it away from him 
and give him another which was more twisted and curved than 
the one before. 

“ Isn’t he learning fast? ” said the Hoot Owl to Sly Fox 
with a wink. 

“ O, fine,” answered Sly Fox. “ Golf players are born 
and not made.” 

Although the Bogey Man was very tired, he tried to look 
happy, and said he never had so much fun in all his life. He 
stumbled into pits and nearly sprained his ankle. He knocked 
the balls into ponds and over big bumps in the meadows. 



Bogey Man is hit by the returning golf ball. 




JUMPING KANGAROO 


99 


Nearly every time he struck a ball it would go out of sight. 
Sly Fox tried to find it, but, somehow, he never could. Then 
the Bogey Man had to pay Sly Fox twenty-five cents for a new 
ball. Before the day was over Sly Fox had sold to the Bogey 
Man the same ball 999 times. The Bogey Man’s hands were 
all blistered, and his feet were wet, and his fine clothes were all 
over mud. He sat down on a log and began to cry. 

“ Pm tired of running after those balls,” he said, “ and I 
have, boo-hoo boo-hoo — I have spent all my money buying 
new ones.” 

“ That is too bad,” sighed Sly Fox. “ I have an idea.” 

So Sly Fox drove a tack into one of the balls, twisted a 
long piece of string around it and then drove the tack way 
down to the head. 

“ This string,” explained Hoot Owl, “ is just as long as 
the field. You hit the ball with the club and the ball can’t get 
lost because it has a string tied to it.” 

“ That is very fine,” said the Bogey Man, wiping away 
his tears and taking a big drink of oatmeal water. “ I wish 
you had thought about that before I bought those 999 balls.” 

So they put the ball on the ground and gave the Bogey 
Man the ugliest and biggest club that they could find. 

“ Hit it hard, Bogey Man,” said Sly Fox, and then he 
stepped behind a tree. 

“ Yes, don’t be easy now,” screeched the Hoot Owl, and he 
flew up into the branches of the tree and put on his glasses. 


L.of C, 


IOO 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


The Bogey Man swung the club and struck the ball as 
hard as ever he could. The round thing went through the air 
so fast that you could hear it sing and when it got to the end 
of the field, it suddenly stopped. One end of the string was 
fastened to a sapling. The string kept stretching and stretch- 
ing, until there was no more stretch in it and the ball fastened 
to the end of it came bounding back and struck the Bogey Man 
so hard in the nose that it knocked him right over. The poor 
Bogey Man dropped his club, and when he got on his feet again, 
he went away as fast as he could. Since that he has never 
been seen playing golf with anybody and the animals and 
snakes in Deacon Jones’ wood are happy. Some men from the 
city who saw Sly Fox and Hoot Owl playing thought it was 
really a good game and they went back and taught other people 
how to play it. Only instead of Sly Fox to find the balls they 
hired good little boys called caddies who always find the balls, 
no matter how far they go, and they never think of doing any- 
thing so dishonest as to charge twenty-five cents for the same 
ball over and over again. 


HOW UGLY DOG STOPPED THE 
CAR 



Ugly Dog tries to overtake his master. 


X 

HOW UGLY DOG STOPPED 
THE CAR 

U GLY DOG lived out in a place called New Jersey, 
where the mosquitoes are always so busy that the 
people never have time to think about getting old. 
Near the house of his master there were two rails, 
on which the Running Houses kept going up and down as 
fast as they could. Every time a Running House went past 
Ugly Dog went out and barked, for the very sight of it made 
him angry. Before the Running Houses came, his master went 
to the station in a buggy, and Ugly Dog always went along and 
trotted back with the coachman. Now his master went alone, 
and Ugly Dog had to stay at home. 

He came out one morning just in time to see his master 
get on the back steps of a Running House and wave good-by to 
the children. Ugly Dog was never so angry in all his life. 
He ran as hard as he could, and tried to jump on the Running 
House so that he could go to the station with his master. Then 
he heard two bells ring, and with a clicking and banging, Run- 
ning House was sliding away so fast that Ugly Dog could not 
keep up with it. He ran until he nearly dropped on the 
ground, and he barked until he was hoarse. 

103 





Ugly Dog complains to Sly Fox. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 105 

He crawled into the bushes at the side of the road and laid 
down to rest. He was all covered with dust, and his eyes were 
red and his tongue was hanging out. 

“ Well,” said Sly Fox, who had just come up through the 
bushes, “ You do not seem to be very happy this morning. 
What is the matter? ” 

“ I can’t go to the station any more,” growled Ugly Dog, 
“ because I can’t run fast enough to keep up with those miser- 
able little houses that go sliding away as soon as my master 
gets on the back steps.” 

“ It seems to me,” said Sly Fox, “ that for a dog that has 
such a fine face you do not know very much. I understand 
why it is that the Running Houses do not stop — you are not 
polite enough to the man at the front door.” 

“ What am I to do ? ” asked Ugly Dog. 

“ O, that is very simple,” answered Sly Fox. “ You must 
be very particular about how you act. Nobody ever succeeds 
unless he is polite and always says please. You know that I 
am very wise, and if you only listen to me, you may never have 
any more trouble.” 

“ l am all ears,” said Ugly Dog, folding his arms and look- 
ing as humble as Jack Rabbit. 

“ Well, in the first place,” said Sly Fox, “ the Running 
Houses only stop when you wave your paw to the man at the 
front door. Now, if I were you I would stand right in front of 
the next one as it comes along and then I would make a low 



Sly Fox escapes on the car. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


107 

bow and wave my paw. That is the way your master gets 
them to stop.” 

“ HI do that,” said Ugly Dog, “ just as soon as I get 
rested. But how is it that you are all out of breath, too ? ” 

“ Well,” answered the Sly Fox, coughing in a funny sort 
of a way and shuffling his feet around, “ you know that I am a 
doctor, and I was called in a hurry to see two little chickens 
which had the croup in their crops.” 

“ Is that so ? ” asked Ugly Dog, “ and are they better 
now? ” 

“ Those dear, little chickens,” answered Sly Fox, as he 
stroked his white mustache, “ will never be bothered by having 
anything in their crops again.” 

Just then there was a whirring sound way up the road and 
Sly Fox jumped up. 

“ My friend,” he said, “ I think that another Running 
House is coming. If I were you I would hurry up and get 
right in front of it.” 

Ugly Dog got up on his feet and shook himself and 
wagged his tail and smoothed out his hair. 

“ How do I look? ” he asked. 

' “ Fine,” answered Sly Fox. “ If I were the man stand- 

ing on the front porch of any Running House I would stop in a 
minute. Now you do just as I tell you, and I am sure that you 
will never have any more trouble.” 

Ugly Dog went out in front of Running House, wagg’ng 





Hounds call Ugly Dog a rascal. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


109 


his tail and standing up on his hind legs and making bows all 
the time. He waved one of his paws as Running House came 
hurrying down the rail. The man at the front door began to 
ring the bell as fast as he could and to yell at Ugly Dog. 

“ He sees you ! ” cried Sly Fox from behind the bushes. 

Then the man turned a brass handle. 

Running House began to go slower, but it did not stop. 
The thing in front which looked like a scraper struck Ugly Dog 
and sent him way up in the air, and he fell down at the side of 
the road all in a heap. When he got on his feet again, he saw 
the Running House going down the road as fast as it could, 
and on the back step was Sly Fox, smoking a pipe and looking 
very wise. 

Just then there was a crackling of branches and a yelping 
and a stamping. Through the bushes came men riding horses 
and a pack of angry hounds. 

“ You are a rascal,” yelped the hounds. “ You, Ugly Dog, 
stopped the Running House so that Sly Fox could get away 
from us! ” 

“ I did no such thing,” whined Ugly Dog. “ That mean 
Fox played a trick on me.” 

The hounds would not listen to him, but they chased him 
to his kennel and gave him a good whipping. Ugly Dog did 
not get over the hurting he got that day until the next month. 


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SLY FOX GETS HIS PICTURE 
TAKEN 



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Ugly Dog meets Sly Fox again 


XI 

SLY FOX GETS HIS PICTURE 
TAKEN 

M OLE had a photograph gallery in Deacon Jones’ 
woods. One of the rooms was all dark, be- 
cause it was under the ground, and here he 
spent nearly all his time making pictures come 
on the glass plates. He was there so much that after a while 
he could hardly see at all, so he had to get Ugly Dog to help 
him. Ugly Dog was a good barker, and he stood out in front 
of the photograph gallery all day, saying : “ Step right up, 
birds and animals and get your very fine pictures taken.” 

Ugly Dog made so much noise, and talked so much about 
the pictures, that nearly all the birds and animals ordered a 
dozen photographs apiece. Silly Goose, Gray Mouse and Ker- 
chug, the leap-frog, were so pleased that each of them ordered 
two dozen. 

Ugly Dog was out in front of the photograph gallery, 
barking one afternoon when he saw Sly Fox in the bushes com- 
ing toward him. He and Sly Fox were not friends, and he 
began to growl and snarl. 

“ Stop your noise,” called out the Mole, coming out of the 
dark room. “ You are shaking all the pictures down.” 

»ii 3 




Ugly Dog tells the animals to step in 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


ll S 


“ I can’t help it,” cried Ugly Dog, “ Sly Fox made me 
stand in front of the house which was running on two rails and 
the front step knocked me over and nearly killed me.” 

“ Now you do what I tell you,” said Mole, “ and you can 
pay Sly Fox for that trick.” 

So Mole and Ugly Dog went down into the dark room, 
and Mole told Ugly Dog just what to do. Ugly Dog went 
back and stood in front. of the photograph gallery, and when 
Sly Fox came up he made a low bow. 

“ Good morning, Sly Fox. Ha! Ha! ” he said. “ That 
was such a very good joke. After the running house struck 
me and I found myself lying in the road, I got up and laughed, 
and laughed so hard that for weeks afterward I was sore all 
over. You are such a very funny animal, and you look just as 
funny as you are. Whenever I see that great, big, long, thin 
neck of yours I can hardly help laughing.” 

Sly Fox was very vain. He put his paw up to his neck 
and felt it all over, and then said : “You are a very foolish 
animal, Ugly Dog. Anybody can see that my neck is very 
short and very graceful.” 

“ I don’t wonder that you do not care to have your 
picture taken,” said Ugly Dog. “ Silly Goose passed by here 
only yesterday and ordered two dozen. I don’t suppose that 
my partner, Mole, would care to risk his camera taking a pic- 
ture of one so ugly, anyway. It’s too bad that your tail is so 
short and stubby.” 




JUMPING KANGAROO 


1 17 


Now, Sly Fox was very proud of his long and bushy tail, 
and when he heard what Ugly Dog said, he became red in the 
face. 

“ It’s just as well,” said Ugly Dog, “ that you do not take 
a very good picture, for I hear that you have so little money 
now that you could not afford to do so, anyway.” 

Then Sly Fox shook his paw in Ugly Dog’s face. 

“ Take my picture right away,” he said, “ and I’ll let you 
know that I have money to pay for it. I shall wait here until 
it is done.” 

So Ugly Dog called down to his friend Mole, and Mole 
came up with his camera. 

“ Sit right down on this stool,” said Ugly Dog. 

Sly Fox sat down, and behind him Ugly Dog put a funny 
kind of tongs passing to a long rod. He put the ends of the 
tongs under Sly Fox’s ears and screwed them up real tight. 

“ That’s to keep your head still,” said Mole. 

“ Don’t you think that is a little bit too tight,” asked Sly 
Fox, squirming around, for he was held so fast that he had 
shooting pains in his head. 

“ Look pleasant, please,” grunted Mole, from under the 
cloth which was over the camera. 

“ You must stay here for fifteen minutes,” added Ugly 
Dog, very quietly. 

So Sly Fox stayed sitting there with a bouquet in his right 
paw and trying to look pleasant, although the tongs about his 



JUMPING KANGAROO 


119 

ears were so tight that his eyes stuck out, and he could hardly 
keep his tongue from hanging down. Mole took the camera 
back into the dark room, and, after awhile, he came out with a 
photograph all finished. 

“ I’ll put it up right in front of you, Sly Fox,” said Ugly 
Dog, “ so that you can take a good look at it.” 

As Sly Fox looked toward the photograph Ugly Dog 
slipped up behind and gave the tongs another turn and then 
jumped back into the bushes. When Sly Fox saw the picture 
he raised his paws and said, “ O, my! O, my! Take it away.” 
It was such an awful picture that it would scare anybody to 
look at it. Mole had placed pictures of different animals to- 
gether and had made one picture. There was a creature with 
a long neck like Silly Goose’s, and a little stubby tail like Ugly 
Dog’s, and a body like big Elephant’s. It had two feet which 
looked like the goose’s, and two other feet which looked like 
elephant’s feet. 

“ I don’t look like that ? ” cried Sly Fox. 

“ I just made your picture,” said Mole in a sleepy voice, 
“ and nobody can ever say that I ever took the wrong animal. 
Isn’t your name Sly Fox? ” 

“ O, yes,” replied Sly Fox, “ but I am a very handsome 
animal.” 

“ I can’t see that you are,” replied the Mole. “ That is 
your picture, and now you’ll have to pay for it.” 

So Ugly Dog and Mole took pay for a dozen pictures and 


120 JUMPING KANGAROO 

put the photograph up just in front of Sly Fox, where he could 
see it and could not reach it. 

“ Take it away. Take it away,” cried Sly Fox. 

Ugly Dog and Mole went away to dinner and left Sly Fox 
sitting in the chair snarling and crying. He stayed there for 
two hours, until his friend Patrick O’Possum came along and 
unscrewed the tongs and let him go. Ever since that Sly Fox 
has not been nearly so proud of himself, and he has never 
played another trick on Ugly Dog. 


AT LITTLE MONKEY’S SWIMMING 
SCHOOL 



Captain Monkey paints a sign. 


XII 

AT LITTLE MONKEY’S 
SWIMMING SCHOOL 

L ITTLE Monkey lost his tail, and the other monkeys 
made so much fun of him that he could not live 
with them any more. He went away by himself 
and fed on berries. He was sitting on the bank of 
the river one day, when the earth gave way, and he fell in the 
water. He swam out again, and as he did, he had an idea. 

“ Til start a swimming school/' said he. “ I'll teach all 
the other animals to swim so that their lives will be saved if 
they fall into the water.” 

So Little Monkey built houses on the shore of the river 
and put up a sign which read : 

Captain L. Monkey, 

Swimming Skule. 

Bathing Suits to Hire. 

He had ioo bathing suits in sizes to fit any animal from a 
mouse to an elephant. He hired the tailor bird to make new 
suits as fast as the old ones wore out. Ben Crocodile was al- 
ways swimming around to save the lives of the animals who 

123 





Tiger^s open mouth scares Little Monkey. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


125 


swam out too far. Little Monkey put a raft away out in the 
stream, where the animals could rest after they had swum as 
long as they should. 

When all the animals and all the birds heard that Little 
Monkey had a swimming school they said : “ How very fash- 

ionable! ” 

Some of them thought they could swim, but then it be- 
came the style for all animals and birds to swim like little mon- 
keys without tails. Every afternoon, the beach in front of Lit- 
tle Monkey’s bathing houses was filled by the jungle folk. All 
those, who went in, hired bathing suits, and the tailor bird was 
kept busy all day making new suits and mending the old ones. 
Little Monkey wore a fine, gray suit, and he swam up and down 
to teach the animals how to swim like a little monkey without 
a tail. 

Tiger and Zebra were great friends, and one afternoon 
they went to Little Monkey’s swimming school. 

“ We want nice, new suits,” said Tiger. 

Tailor Bird brought out two suits with yellow and black 
stripes. Tiger and Zebra then had white hair, for this was 
many years ago. 

“ They’re fine,” said Tailor Bird. “ They fit like the 
bark on the tree, and the colors are so new that they would be 
ashamed to run.” 

“ What pretty suits,” Zebra and Tiger said at once. 

They put on the bathing suits and sat down on the sand. 



Tiger and Zebra make fun of Leopard’s spots. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 127 

“ Why don’t you come in? ” asked Heron, who had stayed 
in the water until he was blue. 

“ We want everybody to see our fine, new suits,” answered 
Zebra. 

“ Come on ! ” cried Little Monkey. “ Bathing suits were 
made to get wet.” 

So Tiger and Zebra stepped into the water and followed 
Little Monkey. 

“ Tiger,” cried Little Monkey, turning around, “ you must 
keep your mouth tightly shut.” 

(Every time Tiger got near Little Monkey his mouth flew 
open.) This made Little Monkey very nervous, for Tiger had 
big, sharp teeth. When Tiger was not scaring Little Monkey, 
Zebra was kicking the water over the poor, little animal, which 
was doing his best to teach his pupils how to swim. The other 
animals and birds got out of the water and sat upon the beach 
and laughed and laughed at the fun which Tiger and Zebra 
were having with Little Monkey. 

Tiger and Zebra made believe that they were very awk- 
ward. They were all the time catching Little Monkey around 
the neck until his head was under water. . Then when he came 
up again with his ears and mouth all streaming, they would 
say: “ Noble Little Monkey, you have just saved our lives.” 
They even got a little fish to swim under Little Monkey and 
bite his toes. Little Monkey pretended not to be angry. All 
the time, though, he was vexed, and he made up his mind that 







Iiger and Zebra run away ashamed. 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


129 


he would pay back Tiger and Zebra for the mean way in which 
they were treating him. He was all tired out, yet he kept 
swimming, for he saw that something was happening which 
would give him a fine revenge. 

“ Tiger,” he said, “ if you would keep your mouth from 
being open so much, and Zebra, if you would not splash with 
your feet, you both would become very fine swimmers. Don’t 
bother to take off your bathing suits. Just sit in the sun and 
when I teach Antelope how to dive I’ll give you another les- 
son.” 

So Tiger and Zebra sat in the sun and told the other ani- 
mals about the great fun which they had had with Little Mon- 
key. 

Then they found somebody else to make fun for them. 
Leopard, who was all spotted, came down to the beach. 

“ Ho, ho,” laughed Tiger, “ did you ever see an animal in 
a polka dot skin ? ” 

“ He, he, isn’t he gaily dressed,” neighed the Zebra, as he 
grinned and looked around at the other animals. 

“ It is not every animal,” answered the Leopard, as he 
came out dressed up in his white bathing suit, “ who has the 
good fortune to be born with a beautiful white skin. Many is 
the time I have tried to change these polka dots for a plain 
checked suit, but somehow I could never do it. I may be funny 
but I never looked so queer as do two very mean animals who 
are lying on this beach all dressed up in ugly, striped bathing 
suits.” 


130 


JUMPING KANGAROO 


Then Zebra and Tiger became angry. They got up and 
took off their bathing suits and threw them at tailor bird. 
Then all the birds and the animals laughed so hard that they 
had to put their hands to their sides. Hyena laughed until he 
rolled over and over on the beach. 

“ Hyena, ” roared Tiger, “you are always laughing at 
nothing. What is the matter with you? ” 

Hyena pointed with his paw. Tiger and Zebra looked at 
themselves and found that their skins were all striped. The 
color had come out of the new bathing suits and the sun had 
dried it into their hair. Tiger and Zebra felt so ashamed that 
they ran away. Ever since that day the beasts in the 
jungle have always said Striped Tiger and Striped Zebra, and 
it was not until the Spotted Leopard told me this story that I 
knew that those two animals were once as white as the Polar 
Bear. 


THE END 






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